By Fred Hadley
This show was first presented in Berlin where it consisted of Goya's (1746-1828) “Desastres de la Guerra,” a series of 80 etchings he produced from 1810 to 1816 in reaction to Napoleon's occupation of Goya's native Spain.
Alongside this inglorious depiction of conquering savagery, which marked the first time war had been depicted this way by an artist, were 83 etchings by the British brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman, which the contemporary artists base on the Goya works plus their own imaginations.
For the American tour of this show, the surrealistic combination of watercolor pastels and the murder of children of Henry Darger's (1892-1973)
“The Realms of the Unreal” have been added. Chapman's newest work, “What the Hell” – large C-print photographs – completes the package of war art which shows the suffering and gore rather than flags and glory.
The etchings by the Chapmans combine oversize, comic-strip images of jumping alley cats or scowling jack-in-the-box pop-ups with older, classical art images of Goya's era. Many of the monochromes, all of which are less than a foot square, appear half complete with numbered dots almost begging the viewer to connect, at least mentally, the disparate styles and eras contained in one work.
In one of the untitled pieces, a line-art figure of an airplane is flying through the plume of smoke from a chimney. A closer look reveals that the chimney is part of what appears to be a concentration camp ringed in razor ribbon and guarded by watchtowers. Rising from the camp is a huge easel, or is it a crucifix?
The Chapmans are also represented here by nine mural-sized photo enlargements of horrifying scenes depicting the mass executions of Russian soldiers by the German army during World War II. A closer look reveals that the human figures in various stages of death and mutilation are actually toy figurines that have been hand-painted. The photographs, by renowned photographer Norbert Schorner, are of the Chapmans' huge sculpture, “Hell, 1999.” In an attempt to replicate the executions, over 10,000 dolls were assembled and placed into positions of bloody carnage. The content of each of the nine photographs, called “What the Hell I-IX” in a throwback to the sculpture, is starkly lit, and the resulting shadows emphasize the gritty, documentary look of newsreels of the time.
Henry Darger's “The Realms of the Unreal”, on the other hand, gives no clue to the horrific nature of the contents of the several dozen paintings that he completed over a 30-year span. Darger had been drafted into the Army during World War I but was rejected.
Although he never fought in the war, he experienced it vicariously through newspaper and magazine accounts. The watercolor medium lends a storybook quality to the images of young girls being strangled and disemboweled. The recent bombing of a school bus in Israel, which caused three siblings to be dismembered, was called to mind. The images here are strong but the anti-war statements are even stronger.
P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center is at 22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Avenue. “Disasters of War” is on view through Feb. 25. For more information call 718-784-2084.
